The 1940-1941 Lincoln Continental was originally designed as a custom-bodied special for Edsel Ford, and Bob Gregorie’s “Mark I” Continental seems to look better and better as the years pass. These first models — identical mainly except for pushbuttons instead of handles on the ’41 doors — are the cleanest of the breed.
Essentially, it was a sportier version of the contemporary Lincoln-Zephyr, powered by the long-stroke V-12 derived from Ford’s flathead V-8. This engine had a history of inadequate water passages and poor oil flow before 1940, though these problems were partly corrected by then.
The original Continental was one of the first cars recognized as something more than a mere machine — by New York’s Museum of Modern Art and the Classic Car Club of America, among others — and one of the finest examples of the automobile as art.